


Love Palindrome

by MotherofGeeks



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: F/M, Friends to Lovers, Idiots in Love, Mutual Pining, Post-Reveal Pre-Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, reverse love square
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-29
Updated: 2021-02-21
Packaged: 2021-03-14 21:02:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,356
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29052579
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MotherofGeeks/pseuds/MotherofGeeks
Summary: Marinette realizes she loves Chat Noir but he's moved on.  Adrien has fallen for Marinette only to find out she's ladybug and not interested in him (or so he thinks).  As identities are revealed, hearts are broken but friendship blossoms and to the annoyance of all their friends these two haven't figured out that they love one another.  A night out leads to misunderstandings that finally lead these oblivious idiots to one another.
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir & Nino Lahiffe, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Alya Césaire & Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Alya Césaire/Nino Lahiffe
Comments: 21
Kudos: 33





	1. The Reversal

**Author's Note:**

  * For [leviaana](https://archiveofourown.org/users/leviaana/gifts).



> Okay so @leviaana posted her Part-Buds Comic: https://leviaana.tumblr.com/post/641047988220968960/reverse-love-square-drama-part-two-of-part-buds
> 
> And the angst just got to me and I had to start writing. This is only based on her part 1 and 2 cause I started writing before I saw parts 3 & 4\. Anyways, after I wrote all this I realized I put almost no dialogue in but that’s cause this is the backstory, I hope to write more soon (and I promise it will have dialogue in future parts). I hope you like it, I don’t have much time these days to write fanfic but I felt truly inspired by @leviaana‘s art.

In just one moment everything had changed and yet nothing really had. It had been necessary in Marinett’s eyes - she was the guardian now, she needed to know who held a miraculous. And after an akuma battle that had left her guarding Adrien Agreste by herself for nearly an hour waiting on Chat, Tikki had agreed.

Marinette had been wanting to reveal for a while. Ever since the realization that her feelings for chat were no longer simply platonic. She had tried testing out the water with Chat only to discover that his lack of a pet name for her lately hadn’t been due to maturity but rather that he no longer loved her.

“I just...I don’t like you like that anymore. Sorry.”

So much for ladybugs being lucky. Still personal feelings aside, she still needed to know who chat was for safety and since they were partners it had only felt right for a double reveal.

When that day had come, Marinette didn’t know what she had expected, but the boy she had gotten over when she fell for her partner sure wasn’t it. They stood frozen in place, staring at one another in a trance. Inside her head, Marinette attempted to process what this meant for their partnership and what it meant for her heart.

It was Adrien who broke the silence, first with a nervous chuckle and then a full belly laugh. Even though Marinette knew he was not laughing at her, she could not help the tears that had begun to pool in her eyes. Too many emotions swirled inside of her. She vaguely remembered mumbling something about needing to go before transforming and running home.

Jumping down into her room, Marinette threw herself on her bed and sobbed. Tikki had nuzzled close that night, whispering soft words and likely keeping an eye out for any butterflies that may have tried to make an appearance. She had lost both boys...no the only boy she had loved. But Chat was her best friend and her partner, she couldn’t afford to let this change their partnership.

The next morning, Marinette woke up determined. She arrived at school early for once and was greeted to the sight of a very tired and anxious Adrien. Guilt had hit her that she had likely caused him distress in her fleeing but she pushed forward, her resolve pushing past her emotions. Sharing a croissant and a smile, she assured her companion that she was not disappointed and that she had simply been overwhelmed by the whole experience (of course keeping the fact that she was madly in love with him too herself).

It had been an awkward few days and they had both had to dodge questions from Nino and Alya about what was going on. Eventually things settled down. Their natural rhythm behind the masks started to bleed into their every day relationship. Adrien had opened up more, punning and telling horrible jokes. Marinette would roll her eyes and push him away.

Personal space had disappeared, so used to touching during fights both out of necessity and comfort with one another. Now Adrien had no problem draping himself across Marinette’s lap or throwing his arm around her when they studied together. It had taken a while for Marinette to no longer turn bright crimson when it happened, and even longer not to feel the melancholy ache afterwards, but slowly it became habitual.

Alya had given up trying to understand what was happening. Everyone outside of their friend group, even some of their classmates, had assumed they were dating. A tabloid had gotten ahold of a photo of them sitting snugly in the library together and suggested they were indeed an item. Adrien had cleared that up though, being interviewed by Nadja Chamack and proclaiming that they were “just friends.” (For some reason that time had hurt far worse than any of the previous times she had heard those words)

Luka had given up on any prospect of a romantic relationship. Marinette couldn’t blame him, her heart was definitely not open for someone else. But the absence of Luka as a distraction made her loneliness more apparent. At first the closeness with Adrien on the civilian side had been unbearable, reminding her of what she would never have. Slowly it became as natural as breathing, and even if it weren’t in a romantic way, she couldn’t imagine her life without Adrien being a key part.

It stayed this way throughout their time at lycée. Running off at the same time to fight akumas had only continued to perpetuate the dating rumors. They spent their free time hanging out with Alya and Nino or just the two of them, where their kwamis could be free and there were no secrets. Well none except those of the heart.

Graduation approaching and Hawkmoth’s reign still unended meant they would need to stay in Paris. Schools in London, New York, and Milan were no longer an option. Marinette was okay with that, ESMOD had always been up on her list of schools and she wasn’t sure she was ready to leave Paris even if she weren’t ladybug.

Adrien had made it clear that he wanted to get as far away from his father as possible. But with the limitation of remaining in or near Paris, Marinette was certain he would attend École Polytechnique or École de ponts ParisTech, both schools were on the outskirts of town and would allow him to study physics and engineering like he had talked about pursuing. Marinette would miss seeing him everyday but she understood.

Instead, shortly after her acceptance to ESMOD, Adrien had decided to attend Paris Sciences et Lettres Research University just on the other side of the Seine from Francois Dupont and very close to the Dupain-Cheng bakery where Marinette planned on staying to save money. 

The young model had gained access to one of his trusts, this one set up by his mother, and had gotten an apartment just north of the Palais Garnier and walking distance to ESMOD. He claimed the location was purely coincidental even though it was in the opposite direction of his school and had convinced Marinette to move in as his roommate both for her convenience and for his necessity.

“I will starve if I live on my own Mari. You have to help me!”

It had been a perfect arrangement. They could help one another with cooking and chores based on their class schedules and could cover and rotate patrols when exams and projects came up. There was no need to lie to a roommate or parents about where they were sneaking off too and Mari could let the other kwamis out more often. They had a steady, happy routine together and Marinette was content with the way things were.

At least that’s what she thought until she entered Alya and Nino’s apartment this evening for girls’ night only to discover that Alya, Rose, Juleka, Mylene and Alex were all sitting around the living room wearing faces of nervous sadness (well except Alex who looked about ready to murder someone).

“What’s going on?” Marinette asked, hesitantly entering the apartment. The girls all looked at one another expectantly before Alya finally sighed and pulled up a photo on her phone. There was Adrien, at the bar he had said he was going with Nino and some of his friends from class, sitting close and smiling at a model-worthy girl.

“I’m sorry to have to tell you this M, but Adrien is cheating on you.”


	2. The Question

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> During girls night, Marinette has to answer some questions and Alya gets a GREAT idea.

Marinette stood frozen for a moment as she looked at the phone in front of her. She felt a knot forming in her stomach as she looked at Adrien's smiling face. There was nothing in the photo that indicated it was anything more than a friendly conversation, but it still stung to see Adrien so happy and carefree with another girl. Turning to hang up her jacket Marinette took an extra second to take a breath and plaster a smile on her face.

“Girls, how many times have I told you? Adrien and I aren’t dating.” She waved her hand towards the phone nonchalantly and walked over to an open chair.

“We know you always say that, but you two are so close…” Rose said, eying Marinette worriedly.

“Yea, I mean we just assumed it was ‘cause Adrien’s old man is such a dick!” Alex chimed in, looking ready to fight Gabriel Agreste at that moment. Marinette smiled in earnest at the thought. Alex would need to take a number behind her, Nino, Chloe, Kagami, heck she was even sure that Adrien’s bodyguard would want in on that action.

“I appreciate the concern but Adrien and I are just really good friends, nothing more,” Marinette stated firmly, hoping the subject could be dropped. She turned towards Alya ready to jump into the latest gossip but noticed her friend was being oddly quiet and eyeing her skeptically.

“Is that all you want, M? To be just friends?”

Marinette wanted to scream. Of course that’s not all she wanted. Her childhood crush had developed into so much more the day that the masks had fallen. She knew that part of her would never truly be happy as just Adrien’s friend, but the alternative terrified her even more.

“It doesn’t matter if I want to be anything more. Adrien doesn’t feel the same and I don’t want to mess up the friendship we have.”

“How do you know that he doesn’t feel the same? He may be worried about the exact same thing!” Alya pressed, throwing her arms up in frustration. They had avoided this subject for a while, Alya thinking that the two were a couple, but clearly it was not something that Mari could escape from tonight.

“He doesn’t,” Marinette said softly, looking down at her hands.

“But you don’t know for sure!”

“Yes I do.”

“How?!”

“BECAUSE HE TOLD ME!” Marinette shouted. She took a deep breath, noticing that she had stood up in her anger. Sitting back down she began to pick at a loose thread on her sweater, refusing to look up at the pity she was sure she’d see on her friends’ faces. 

“Back in lycée, he told me he had had a crush on me, but that he didn’t feel that way anymore.”

The silence was deafening. Marinette could feel her embarrassment manifesting - a quickened heartbeat, hot face, dry mouth. She felt pathetic. To still have the same feelings 4 years later, never having moved on from her original collège crush. To be putting herself through the torture of liing with someone she was head over heels for, knowing nothing would ever come of it.

“I’m gonna kill him!” Alex broke the silence first. Pounding her fist into her hand. Rose and Mylene gasped in shock while Alya and Juleka nodded their agreement. 

Marinette quickly waved both her hands in front of her anxiously, a habit she had never been able to break and squeaked out a “no, no, no.”

“Yes, yes, yes!” Alya retorted, her normal fire returning in full force. “He has totally been leading you on for years! Girl, you don’t treat ‘just a friend’ the way Adrien has treated you. It would be one thing if he just wasn’t aware of his feelings, but if he’s really not into you he deserves a good slap for how he’s acted!”

“Or a kick in the crotch,” Alex added.

“We could just burn his stuff,” Juleka mumbled, earning another gasp from Mylene and chuckles from the rest.

Marinette felt her heart warm at her friends’ loyalty. They didn’t have the full story, and she couldn’t really exonerate Adrien of some of his behavior without giving away identities. Still it was nice to know that their friend group was still as solid as ever and that she could rely on them if needed.

“Thank you girls for caring about me so much, but I’m okay really. And I didn’t come here tonight to mope about my lack of love life. I haven’t seen any of you in weeks! I want to know what you have all been up to. Can we just drop it and move on?”

The devilish gleam in Alya’s eyes told Mari that they were not moving on just yet. Worse, it was likely that Alya had some sort of crazy, spontaneous plan in mind that would send her anxiety through the roof. She loved her bestie, but her impulsiveness was going to be the death of both of them one of these days.

“You know what girl? I know exactly what you need to spice up your love life and have some fun for girls night this week!” Alya pulled out her phone and quickly began typing away. “Alright ladies, let’s take this show on the road!” 

“Where are we going?” Mylene asked worriedly. She motheringly patted Marinette’s hand as she eyed Alya cautiously. They all knew not to get in the way of Alya’s grand schemes.

“We are going dancing and we are going to find Marinette a hunk so hot she won’t even remember her girlhood crush!”

Rose clapped her hands together excitedly. Alex shrugged and resigned herself to an evening out at the club while Juleka and Mylene smiled nervously. It wasn’t like they didn’t like going dancing, they had done so before for girls’ night, but typically there was more notice than a few minutes. Still the girls seemed just as determined as Alya to help Marinette forget about her love problems.

“Wasn’t Kagami going to join use tonight after her class got out? We should just stay put. We wouldn’t want her to miss out.”

“Oh, I already texted her and told her where to meet us. Now let’s get you changed. Girls we leave in 20!” Alya pulled Marinette up and dragged her to the bedroom, excitedly buzzing about what she could wear that would have the boys drooling over themselves.

Marinette felt the knots returning to her stomach. She was absolutely certain she would regret this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading so far. Sorry for the short chapter. Next chapter is Adrien's perspective of the last 3 years and what's really going on in that picture! 
> 
> I am hoping to get that one out by next weekend (work is a little insane at the moment but it should be settled soon and I have the next chapter mostly written already)

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not sure how clear I made it that Adrien had started to develop a crush on Marinette and that was why he was over Ladybug. I started writing his side of things and I want to post that for chapter 3! I do want to continue Marinette's reaction to Adrien "cheating" first though and actually move the story a long. I do have a plan for where I want to take this story but I also work about 60 hours a week these days and I've got 4 kiddos so my free time is REALLY limited but I really want to see this story to the end and get it out of my head :)


End file.
